This summer will be my fourth reading of the book I thought was all about my time here on this forum. Alas, it mainly gave amazing insights into all the key movers and shakers at the club, both on and off field, during the Premiership run of 2017.

I feel Marshall missed a real opportunity to explore Vines the man, the myth, the legend, and instead went for the money grabbing theme of an historic premiership year, cashing in on all the success starved Tigers fans desperate to read, watch and/or listen to anything remotely to do with the flag.

The book concept of Vines is still there, waiting for the right author to take on what many believe to be the ultimate prize in literature.

I’ve had a couple of visits to Los Angeles now and I’m starting to get my head around the areas where the AFL and US college football are similar – and where they’re worlds apart.Take the band, for example. I used to wonder whether all that music and excitement and choreography was just made up for the movies. No way. It’s very real. The hype around every home game over there feels like a grand final back here.I don’t officially arrive at the University of Southern California until next month – and I’m not scheduled to play until next year – but I have had a few trips over to scope everything out. On my last visit, I found myself at a rally the night before a game against Colorado standing next to my special teams coordinator, John Baxter, and dead in between the USC cheerleaders and The Spirit of Troy, the Trojans’ marching band.Then the players arrived. The place went crazy! The band started playing, the cheerleaders were jumping around and the fans were delirious. Everyone is so passionate about their school and patriotic about their country. I was a bit rattled, to be honest, especially with the coach dragging me into the middle of it all. There’s not much in footy back home you can compare it to. I’m just glad I’ve experienced it now so it won’t shock me when I’m actually over there playing.Preparation, on the other hand, isn’t all that different to what we’d go through at Richmond. For home games, everyone checks into a local hotel. Warm-ups and recovery are pretty similar. Team meetings are structured much the same way the Tigers’ are, although there’s probably a little more video work done with the USC boys given how structured each play is in American football.As for Aussies in college football, we’re still pretty unique – and a bit of a mystery to the locals. The coach introduced me to the team as a ‘professional rugby player’ and added a year to my age. I hadn’t started yet so I wasn’t too keen to correct him in front of everyone! The boys asked plenty of questions about footy, but I’m not sure I advanced the cause too much. Everyone seemed convinced I’d been playing a cross between rugby and soccer. Lost in translation …All in all, though, I can’t wait to get this new chapter of my life started. I’m grateful to the Tigers for everything they’ve done for me and I will carry so many of those experiences with me when I hit LA the week before Christmas.And then it’s down to work.
Read more at https://www.playersvoice.com.au/ben-grif...GjH5DCb.99

The Tigers became the first Club in AFL / VFL history to break the 100,000-member barrier - finishing the year with 101,562 members - and it was the cornerstone of a $4.21 million net profit.
Richmond president, Peggy O’Neal once again praised the loyalty of the Tiger faithful for their unwavering support of the football club.

“Richmond members and supporters are now without question the most loyal, passionate fans in the AFL, and we thank you for the strength you give us both on and off the field,” O’Neal said.
The Club generated total revenue of $79.8 million, an increase of $14.6 million year-on-year, with record membership, crowds and sponsorship key contributors to the financial result.

In 2018, Richmond’s 100,000 membership milestone marked eight years of consecutive membership growth for the Club.

The Club also finished AFL number one for total home-and-away crowds (1.19 million), and AFL number one for average home crowds (61,175) in season 2018.
Further growth in the Club’s health and recreation business, Aligned Leisure, also added to the Club’s operating result.

In 2018, Aligned Leisure successfully tendered for management rights to facilities in Albury/Wodonga, and more recently in Mildura, with the Mildura contract commencing in the first week of November, 2018.

The Richmond Institute of Sports Leadership (RISL) – delivered in partnership with Swinburne University - also continues to grow.

Student enrolments have increased and RISL will now further expand its reach to deliver a course in Albury/Wodonga from 2019. The course also now includes international learning experiences making it a truly unique educational experience.

“Both Aligned Leisure and the Richmond Institute of Sports Leadership were key undertakings of the Board to ensure we diversified the Club’s revenue streams, so as to reduce our reliance on football-generated revenues. It is pleasing to see both operations performing so strongly,” O’Neal said.

Additional highlights of 2018 include the Richmond’s inaugural VFLW team, who won four games in their first season, and created a strong foundation to develop the program in 2019 and prepare for the Club’s first AFLW season in 2020.

The Club also continues to invest significantly in its community programming and partnerships.

Richmond’s partnership with the Alannah and Madeline Foundation continues to strengthen after six years of partnership, supporting the Foundation’s important work to protect children from violence and bullying.

The Korin Gamadji Institute (KGI) also continues to work relentlessly with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth. It is important work and central to the Club’s Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP).
Richmond remains the only sporting club in Australia to have its RAP recognised as being in Elevate status for its demonstrated leadership.

Richmond’s commitment to diversity and inclusion saw the Club enter a team in the inaugural Victorian Wheelchair Football League and renew its sponsorship of the Midsumma Festival.

The Club also continued to deliver the Bachar Houli Academy in partnership with the AFL and, for the first time, the Academy included female participants.

Only a couple days away now. I have a feeling we'll trade up on the night using a future pick or two.

On another note I see we are likely to sign Mav Weller directly to the rookie list by using a new rule that prevents going through the draft process. Now its hardly inspiring signing delisted saints but I've always thought he was a decent player. At the very least he provides cover for some of the depth we lost and for only a rookie contract. Im okay with it.

I am aware that some members of the site have voiced their concerns about the number of times that I’ve changed the software that runs on this site. I have made no secret of the fact that I like Yellow and Black to use software that I can learn from and perhaps use elsewhere.

With the forum software used by the now old site (Discourse) I dad to admit that I’d bitten off more than I coukd chew, that’s for sure. While I believe that the software itself is superior to other forum software that is currently available; for a ‘tinkerer’ like myself, it was driving me crazy! There were restrictions on many aspects of the software and I am unfamiliar with the programming language - Ruby on Rails - and even less so when it comes to the ‘container’ on the server in which it runs. The software doesn't even have a setting for closing the site!

Needless to say, this had reduced my enjoyment of the site as I no longer had the same control. I have tried offering to pay programmers to migrate from this forum to other software. The response is the same - it’s too difficult and nobody has ever moved FROM Discourse rather than TO Discourse so they aren’t keen to take it on.

Things to take into account with this new software:

2018 posts won't be found here. I'm working on a way to get a read only or to migrate the discussions.

Your E-mail address is the same as what it was before the last software move. I'm working on updating them, so if you don't have access to your old E-mail address, send me a PM with the details and I'll fix the issue.

I'm working on the colour scheme

Please don't log any issues (other than you can't login)

If you can't login, do a password reset (remembering that it'll go to the last E-mail address you had in December 2017). If all else fails, send me a message